When Two Meet
by emilyjennyjess
Summary: When characters from Higurashi arrive in Domino, strange things start to happen. Yami and Bakura have already been warned about this, but can they stop fate before it destroys the world as they know it? Yugioh/Higurashi crossover.
1. A Warning

**Disclaimer**_: I don't own anything… not even Hanyuu… Hauuuuu!_

When Two Meet

Chapter One: A Warning

Yami sat bolt upright in bed.

He felt a presence nearby, not a sinister one, but the presence of… _A little girl??_

Using his Millennium Puzzle, he could feel the faint energy waves of a young, female spirit who was trying to communicate with him.

_Great Pharaoh,_

_Once again your power will be needed. Soon, two people will come. One will be scarred mentally, with images equalling the violence of __Kul Elna. The other…Hauu… _

'The other, what?'

'_The other has great darkness hidden inside, underneath her sincere kindness… darkness rivaling even your arch nemesis, Bakura._

'Is that possible?'

_You must be careful…Hauu… They are coming closer every second…_

Suddenly, the communication ceased.

* * *

"Rena, now that all the military threats have stopped, I have decided that we have to move."

Rena gave a gasp and a sigh at the same time. She had never told her father the truth about the Yaminu and the 'disappearances.' In fact, everybody who was not affected was not told about the Hinamizawa disease. As well as that, she certainly was not willing to give up her friends and junkyard full of 'Cute-I-want-to-take-it-home' stuff for a new location!

"Please, why can't we stay?" she pleaded.

"I've been promoted to a new position in Domino." Her father replied.

Rena's father was an archaeologist whose position required him to put together and identify fossils. His career was not an easy one, and it forced him to work long hours, reducing his time with his daughter. Rena did not mind, as she had her friends, but she knew her father felt guilty for 'neglecting' his daughter.

"Recently, a Dr Bakura offered me a position I couldn't refuse. Now that we are free to move, we can go to Domino. It'll give us a chance to spend time together."

* * *

Bakura was sitting comfortably in bed.

His sharp eyes took in every part of the surroundings around him. It was a habit he had developed since becoming the Thief King and it had saved his life several times. He suddenly heard a light footstep close by and turned around.

His eyes took in a young female spirit with lavender hair and two horns, one of which was chipped. For a strange reason, he felt that the spirit was nearly as old as him, yet she didn't have much of an air of mystery around her… she even looked rather comical!

'Who are you?' he asked curiously - and a little coldly.

_Hauu… My name is Hanyuu_

'What do you want?'

_I want you to join forces with the Pharaoh, as an evil is coming. I was in this world before and something went badly wrong, and Rika and I had to redo all our hard work. Hauu… I don't want this to happen!_

'Huh?'

_Ask the Pharaoh… Hauu…_

'If I joined forces with the Pharaoh, the pyramids would explode! We're mortal enemies!'

_But Ryou would be in danger… is your old enmity worth that?_

Bakura hesitated. Since he had returned to this world, he had become closer and closer to Ryou. There was a day when Ryou was attacked by some bullies, and Bakura had defended him. That day, he realized that Ryou had become like a younger brother to him. Yes, sure, he still shouted at and punched Ryou on occasion, but it was only for strengthening the poor boy.

'Okay… I'll ask him tomorrow' he said reluctantly.

The spirit smiled and disappeared.

* * *

"Hey, Rika, Rena, I'm coming too!!" An over-exuberant Mion rushed up to meet her friends.

Since most of the readers probably haven't watched Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni, here's a description of the characters.

Mion was a tall, green-haired girl with a _lot_ of personality. Her friends regarded her as 'the boss' as she was generally the one who thought up the games their club would play - and the punishment games if an unfortunate person lost.

Rika was a cute, short little girl with long blue hair. She was the only one who remembered what mistakes her friends had made in the last worlds, leading to death and destruction. She was also the only one who could see Hanyuu in spirit form, rather like the hikaris and their yamis, until Hanyuu appeared in a solid form in a particular world.

Rena was an orange-haired girl with a strong tendency to go crazy whenever she saw a cute thing –like Rika or Hanyuu. Underneath her cheerful demeanor, however, was something very intent on destruction. Even when the Hinamizawa disease had disappeared, it had remained there…

Hanyuu appeared next to Rika in spirit form.

"_I warned them._" was all she said, but Rika understood perfectly.

"Mion wants to go, but then we would end up confusing them. We warned them about two, not three." she said in a dark tone.

"_Maybe it would be better, we could change fate again!_"

"What were you saying, Rika?" asked Mion eagerly.

"Nipah" Rika said in her usual chibi voice "What about our remaining friends? I'm sure your relatives wouldn't approve of you moving, as you _are_ a member of a very important family."

"Never mind my family, and as for my friends, I'm sure that they'll manage without me for a while. I'll only be staying for a few months or so."

Rika almost envied Mion's carefree attitude. She had been extremely worried about her best friend Satoko, who she lived with, until Shion, Mion's twin sister had volunteered to keep her company.

'_Well, here goes nothing…' _she thought. Her eyes hardened. It was time to reduce fate to a pile of ashes.

_Well, first chapter done! Please comment… and remember it **was **my first story! I must have twisted a few facts to make this ;) Oh, and I don't appreciate flames. I'm planning to add a little Yami/Bakura stuff to this, but not exactly Yaoi. Just really, really like each other sort of stuff._


	2. When they Meet

_**Disclaimer: Yugioh and Higurashi belong to Kazuki Takahashi and 07th Expansion respectively… please tell me I spelt that correctly.**_

**Chapter 2: When They Meet**

"Yami, you seem to be slightly worried today."

Bakura snapped at the concern shown by Ryou.

"Of course I'm worried! First of all, I was interrupted in the middle of the night-"

"By what? I hope it wasn't burglars… there've been a few cases recently…"

"Of course not, stupid hikari. If there were any, I'd blast them into the end of next week – or the Shadow Realm, depending on my mood."

Ryou's left eye twitched. Despite the fact that he truly cared about his yami, they had frequent clashes, which usually came out with Bakura having the upper hand. Only occasionally did he resort to violence, though.

"So _what was it?_"

"Not telling… but can I go to school with you today?"

Ryou raised his eyebrows.

"Why do you have this sudden urge to go to school today? Was it something you ate?"

"_HIKARI_! Just let me into that damned ring and stop asking questions!"

Ryou mumbled incoherently, but allowed Bakura to materialise inside the Millennium Ring without further fuss.

* * *

"Here we are, in Domino City." Rena's father was quite impressed by the tall buildings and skyscrapers.

"Rena, Mion, you'll be attending Domino High School – and Rika will be going to the Primary School…"

Rena suddenly felt a sharp pain in her head. Now that she noticed, she also felt a little dizzy.

"Mr Ryuguu, I think that Rena's a little carsick…" Mion noted.

"_Uh oh_…" Rika thought. "_In the last world it was just like that too_…"

* * *

"Tomb Robber."

"Pharaoh."

Since they had returned to this world, Yami and Bakura had treated each other coldly. They didn't often have fights, as their hikaris would be angry, but somehow, whenever they were within a one metre distance of each other, people miles away could feel a weird aura, caused by their suppression of violence.

"You saw the girl with two giant horns which look like leeches?"

"Why should it matter to you?"

"Her name was Hanyuu."

"Interesting."

This was said with a mild inflection which clearly meant 'Names may be names, and I don't care at all.' The tone Yami said it in riled Bakura, who lunged forward suddenly and tackled Yami to the ground.

"JUST TELL ME ALL SHE SAID TO YOU!!"

"Okay, okay. Two people will be coming. One will be evil underneath all their sweetness and one will be scarred with visions equalling the violence of your old village. Now get off me."

Bakura snorted and rolled off Yami. "I doubt that."

* * *

"Please, students, welcome these two new transfer students, Mion Sonosaki and Rena Ryuguu. They come from Hinamizawa, which is a good distance from here. Now then… Mion, there is a seat next to Ryou Bakura, Rena…" The teacher introduced the orange and green haired females.

"_They fit the description!!_" Bakura and Yami thought at the same time.

Unfortunately, the two only had mind links to their hikaris so they couldn't tell the news to each other.

"_Ryou, ask to be excused to the bathroom."_

"_Why?"_

"_I need to tell Yami something."_

"_That's new. When did you two learn to get along?"_

"_HIKARI!!"_

Meanwhile, Yami was having similar problems with Yugi.

"_Please, Yugi…"_

"_Why, what's so urgent?"_

"_I'll tell you later."_

"_Really… when have you ever hidden anything from me?"_

"_I'm not hiding anything! Please, Yugi, it could concern the fate of the world!!"_

* * *

At Domino Park, Rika was strolling around listlessly. She was going to go to her school tomorrow, Rena's father had said, and for now she could amuse herself as she pleased.

'_Rena's dad really is absentminded. A girl my age shouldn't be walking around this city unsupervised.' _she mused. Then, she added cynically that, although her stature was tiny, being hundreds of years old really meant that at least she wouldn't do harmful things to herself on _purpose_. Plenty of people did that for her.

'_Death after death after death…'_

Just then, Bakura and Yami, deep in wary conversation, strolled up the path.

'_Ah, ready for the briefing.'_

She dawdled up to them, and said a single word.

"_**Hanyuu**_"

The effect was like fire to fireworks. Both males jumped a foot up in the air, looking embarrassed when they touched the ground. And to get Bakura to look embarrassed is practically the hardest thing in the world.

"Yes, I'm the one who sent her. In the last world, both of you failed spectacularly to prevent your demise, due to the fact that people who have had the Hinamizawa syndrome are resistant to the effects of Shadow Magic."

At each word she said, the yamis' eyes opened wider and wider. They didn't understand how a little girl could possibly know all that… or how there could've been a last world unless…

_Unless…_

Had this all happened before?

In a world like this, Yami and Bakura had become accustomed to the weirdest things happening, but this was something new. And why were there _three_ people, not _two_?

_And what in the name of Isis was the Hinamizawa Syndrome?_

_**Yay, an update! They finally met!! How old is Rika anyway... and thank you to all my commenters. Each comment is like a little boost... more comments, more updates! ;)**_


	3. Frederica's Explanation

**When Two Meet**

_Disclaimer and warning: Yugioh and Higurashi do not belong to me. I may (__**severely**__) be also spoiling the plot of Higurashi and Umineko No Naku Koro Ni. This is a very talky chapter… so please bear with it! Oh… and it is very long, to make up for the time I haven't updated._

Chapter 3: Frederica Bernkastel's explanation

"In the last world, both of you failed spectacularly to prevent your demise, due to the fact that people who have had the Hinamizawa syndrome are resistant to the effects of Shadow Magic."

Yami and Bakura stared at Rika. Yami was the first to recover his composure and after a brief pause, spoke.

"I think it would be better if you explain this from the beginning. The Tomb Robber and I are not… exactly familiar with the 'Hinamizawa Syndrome."

Rika did not know where to start, and as her mind tried to work out the best way to explain the story, she became aware of a strange consciousness at the back of her mind.

Finally she began. "My name is Rika Furude. This is the game world of Domino. I don't know who we are trying to prevent, what their goals are, or if we even know them. However, they will begin the Domino Chain Disappearances, where one person will disappear from a house each night. No one will be able to figure out how they disappear. We have gone through this world once already, and both of you died."

It was not certain whether it was Rika's confusing way of putting things or not, but Yami and Bakura still didn't get it. Finally, Rika started her story from the beginning.

"It was June of Showa 1983…"

After she had finished, there was an awed silence which was finally broken by Bakura's question of:

"Did you guys _really_ kill each other?"

Yami snorted. "Figures you'd be more impressed by that then at the fact that they finally had a happy ending, only after they worked together."

"Ra, Pharaoh, don't go on another of your friendship almighty lectures."

Rika smiled, but that strange feeling in her head suddenly overwhelmed her…

* * *

Bakura had been slightly impressed by Rika's story, and had a feeling that the strange blue haired girl was telling the truth. Of course, he would be impressed by any story as violent as that.

All of a sudden, Rika collapsed, and he and Yami ran forwards, wondering what had happened.

"_For the love of Ra…_" thought Bakura.

Yami, meanwhile, had grabbed Rika by the shoulders and trying to revive her. Rika let out a soft groan and opened her eyes-

But they weren't Rika's eyes.

No person, not even one who had lived a hundred years, could have those eyes. Nor that lifeless facial expression. In fact, they were similar to those of a corpse.

"Ri…ka?" Yami gasped.

Rika, if that was who it was, only giggled. And that giggle alone was a truly sinister sound.

Bakura and Yami would forever deny backing away with fear.

"Rika?" This time, the question was voiced by Bakura.

This time, 'Rika' spoke.

"I'm extremely surprised you two didn't notice that there was another life force pulsing in Rika's mind. But still, you _never_ seem to observe these things."

"Who… who are you?" Yami stuttered.

The girl pulled herself up with a regal dignity which easily could match the Pharaoh's own.

"My name is Frederica Bernkastel." she spoke softly. "I was born of Rika's despair and helplessness as she and her friends were continually killed. Eventually, I was born in a realm where time, fate and other impossibilities are tangible realities."

"The Shadow Realm?" Bakura hazarded a sarcastic guess. He had quickly gotten over the shock of Rika's strange behaviour, and was now listening with a half-curious, half-indifferent air.

Frederica shook her head.

"Close. My realm of existence is the Witches' realm. The majority of it is material, like yours. It practically rules over the entire universe. Even the Shadow Realm could easily be trampled by us. Everyone in this world are just pawns in a game of luck, pawns which some witches _think_ should be meddled around with." Her voice grew bitter.

Yami was surprised, to say the least. He had never heard of any other realms before, apart from the Shadow Realm.

Bakura was more doubtful of what Frederica was saying. "Don't you have any solid proof?"

Frederica nodded.

"Shadow Magic cannot affect those with Witches' magic or have a condition which is the by-product of our magic. Even if you fire an extremely powerful blast of power at me, I will not be able to feel it."

"Can I have a go?"

Yami pushed Bakura aside. "Knowing you, you'd probably fire enough Shadow Magic at Rika –I mean_, Frederica_- to destroy this entire city. Even if it didn't hit her, you'd still destroy everything around us, including ourselves, Tomb Robber."

Bakura scowled. "I control my powers perfectly fine."

"I beg to differ."

Yami sent a small blast out of the Millennium Puzzle, aimed not _quite_ directly at Bernkastel. Before the blast could hit her, though, Bernkastel sent out a dark blue shield of even more powerful energy, but in a smaller amount. The magic bounced off the shield and hit the ground, creating a patch of burnt grass.

"Now you see." She could not help but let a tiny amount of smugness escape into her tone. And a tiny giggle.

Bakura shrugged. "Well, you've proved to us what you've said is real, why don't you tell us why you've taken over Rika's body to talk to us?"

Frederica gave him a _look_. "I _wasn't_ taking over Rika's body."

"You completely suppress her senses and all her movements are controlled by you. If that isn't mind control, what is?"

"When Yami used to take over Yugi's body, didn't they merge minds? Yugi described it as something like another voice speaking in his head, telling him what to do. But right now, I _have_ completely suppressed her to tell you about this. She doesn't know I exist, though."

"So… you're practically Yami no Rika?"

Frederica giggled. That was possibly the strangest thing she'd ever been called, aside from 'Rika's odd voice change.'

"I suppose that could hold for now, but I am not Rika's Yami."

"Then _who_ are you?" This Frederica seemed to suffer from the same weakness as Rika: beginning the story from the wrong point.

"Uh… have you ever heard of the existence of other realms, aside from the Shadow and Human Realm? I live in the Witches' Realm, possibly the most powerful of all."

Yami and Bakura nodded slowly.

"Well, everyone is playing pieces in this realm. Witches, to escape from their terminal boredom, take these playing pieces and challenge each other to games, rather like how you do it. As Rika had said, this is the game world of Domino, and your souls are in these trading cards over here." She held up a stack of Duel Monster cards.

Yami started violently, but Bakura had already grabbed the playing cards from Frederica's hands, and were examining them carefully.

"Hmm… the God Cards, eh? Wonder who _those_ represent? Ah, there's my Diabound… and that lousy Dark Magician…"

"Hey, the Dark Magician isn't lousy!"

"Oh… _sure_"

After Bakura had finished examining the cards, with snide comments whenever he came to a card that he didn't like, he handed the stack back to Bernkastel.

"So… now I think you'd like to know how this 'game' started in the first place."

"If you insist." Yami raised an eyebrow.

* * *

_Flashback_

Frederica Bernkastel was, as usual, in the Witches' Realm, having wine with kimchi, as usual, and, as usual, she was bored.

Taking another sip of the wine, she mulled over the recent happenings of the Realm. Lately, there had been rumours of a new witch; a powerful one against whom even Bernkastel would have trouble defeating.

Of course, Frederica believed otherwise. She was the most powerful witch of all, due to her Magic of Miracles, which enabled her to restart a world, as long as the chance of failure was not zero. However, she avoided playing these 'games', as she understood how it felt to be repeatedly killed and reborn. Other witches simply believed that she wanted to defend her title, but that was not how it went. She had been born of Rika's sadness and helpless rage as she was continuously tortured to death. As she viewed it, she was sort of an elder sister to these playing pieces. Sure, at times they were annoying, but she still cared for them, somewhere _very_ deep inside her heart.

Of course, as Frederica reflected, sadistic little children like Lambdadelta, who's favourite pawn had been Miyo Takano and was the true reason for that 'game' in the first place, could never be expected to understand what human emotions _were_.

Speaking of Lambdadelta…

"Hey, Lambda… What the heck are you doing here?"

The juvenile witch scowled.

"I'm not gonna tell you, Bern! Never!"

"Child…" Bernkastel chided.

"Alright, fine! I was playing a game with that stupid new witch and guess what that imbecile did! _That person mind-controlled my pieces_!!! How the hell did they do that? I can kill whatever playing piece I want, but _how does it work when they're controlling my pieces so they turn on each other_! Wahh!"

Frederica giggled. 'Lady Lambdadelta' or 'the Witch of the Absolute' was the most feared witch in the entire realm, because of her 'Magic of Certainty', which allowed her to kill anyone without fail, as an absolute result. Of course, it clashed with Frederica's power, and in the end of a long chess game, which turned out to be Rika's story, Lambdadelta, feeling pity for her fellow witch, said she could start her pieces out wherever she wanted.

Of course, that ungrateful Bern had to start her pieces right on Lambda's side of the board, effectively beating her.

"That person said their power was called the Magic of the Millenniums. It allowed them to mind control whoever they wanted to…"

"Don't you even know who the witch was? Not even their gender? Lambda, I thought you were nosier than me, but…_child…_"

Lambdadelta pouted. "That person was wearing a purple cloak thingy, even over their head and the cloak had an eye printed on it. With something like that, I couldn't figure out their identity."

"All in all, do you think they'd be a challenge for me?"

"Bern, unlike me, you actually care for those lowly things we condescend to call mortals. I think you wouldn't like it if your precious Rika was killed again."

Suddenly, a voice spoke out from the shadows.

"Precious Rika or not, I believe that I could care less. So then, this is the 'Powerful Witch' I've been hearing about? Keh, you're nothing but a child!'

Frederica bristled visibly. She was the one who called others children, not some newbie nobody!

"Who are you?"

A mocking, insane laugh. "I don't care about your identity, so why should you care about mine?"

This time, it was Lambdadelta's turn to sound slightly crazy, as she guffawed madly. "Yeah, you shouldn't care, cause Bern's gonna wipe the floor with you! And after that, I'll beat _her_ and use her to clean my birdcage!"

Irritation flickered briefly in Bernkastel's normally lifeless eyes.

"You've been telling me that you'd beat me for about five months now, when will you ever _learn_?"

_End Flashback _

* * *

"Exactly what I'd like to say to Kaiba." Yami sounded slightly amused.

"Well… Baka no Pharaoh, in case you didn't notice, wasn't there something familiar about that new witch? Look, purple cape with eye thingy on it, ability to control minds…" Bakura snapped.

"I noticed. And I am not really surprised. I mean, you escaped so many times…"

Frederica nodded. "And now comes the rest of the story."

* * *

_Flashback_

"So then, little child…"

"I'm not a child." Bernkastel snapped back. "I am a thousand years old, so by now I would be rotting in my grave, if I were a mortal."

"Patience, little child. I'm here to challenge you to a game."

"I noticed."

"So, we shall start off with chess, your speciality. Evidently you have heard of my powers?"

"Yes. I don't know what will happen, as our powers will not clash as violently as mine and Lambdadelta's, so…"

"And I believe you like a little risk in your games?"

"…"

"I'll take that as a yes. Both of us will seal part of our souls inside one of our pieces."

Frederica, of course, sealed her soul inside Rika's, once again. Inwardly, she felt a little guilt at the idea of hurting her little 'pet', but consoled herself with the knowledge that she had, at least, created a few happier worlds for her favourite piece.

"Our souls won't be destroyed if our pieces are destroyed, we will only feel the pain they experienced." Another insane laugh.

Lambda, for once, found herself rooting for Bernkastel.

"Bern, if you lose to that psycho… and you'll only ever lose if you surrender, with your power… I promise that I'll slowly dissect you with a spoon."

Yes… _great_ support.

At the end of that round, Bernkastel found herself writhing with pain on the floor, as that psychotic witch towered above her, laughing.

Finally, Lambdadelta had enough, and suddenly gave that witch a punch to the jaw, hearing a satisfactory _click_ as it dislocated.

"You already won! So don't kick Bern while she's already down, even I never did that!"

Frederica slowly raised her head, wincing as she felt another twinge of pain. "Thanks… Lambda."

The stranger snarled with fury, and stalked away. "This isn't the end of this, you know."

_End Flashback_

* * *

"Students, please welcome Mion Sonozaki and Rena Ryuuguu, who come from the village of Hinamizawa."

Both the green and orange haired girls stood up and bowed slightly, then sat back down.

"Would you like to introduce yourselves?"

Mion stood up. "Well… as our teacher already said, I'm Mion Sonosaki. It's nice to meet you all…"

Just then, Rena got distracted by Ryou.

"Oh!!! He's so cute! I wanna take him hooome!!!" She was running around, dragging a rather bemused and dishevelled white haired boy behind her.

"No! Rena! How many times do I have to tell you not to take your fellow students home!"

As Ryou reflected later, it was probably better that Bakura hadn't been in the Ring at that moment. The tomb robber probably wouldn't tolerate his hikari being called cute and taken home.

After Rena had been restrained (i.e. Mion got a rope out of her pocket and calmly proceeded to tie Rena's hands together, despite Rena's incessant struggling), and the formal introductions made, Mion and Rena found themselves alone in the classroom with Yugi and his friends.

"Hi, my name's Yugi Mutou. I'm glad to meet you." Yugi spoke quietly and politely.

Mion tapped the side of her head with her fingers. Yugi… she had heard that name before…

"Your name's familiar… I think I've heard it mentioned on the television once or twice…"

Yugi smiled and nodded. "I guess you could say I'm good at Duel Monsters."

Mion's face suddenly lit up with recognition. "Ahh… yes! You're the World Champion of Duel Monsters!"

Jounouchi grinned, interjecting with the remark "And that's not all, because that Millen…"

He was cut off by Honda, who quickly shut him up with a sharp glare. Mion raised an eyebrow. What were they so bothered about?

"Oh, that chain around your neck is so cute!!! Aww… Kawaiii… I wanna take it home!!!"

"No! Rena!"

Somehow, Rena had broken free of the ropes, and was now cuddling the Millennium Puzzle. Everybody else, except Mion, tensed, fully expecting a shadow creature to appear out of nowhere. They were most surprised when nothing happened, as something very explosive would normally occur when someone tried to take it.

Smiling, Yugi pried the Puzzle from Rena's unwilling fingers, and placed it back around his neck. The next person to speak up was Anzu.

"I really hope we can be good friends, and we can be very nice to each other-"

Anzu was cut off by a familiar voice. A _very_ familiar voice.

"Two more dweebs to add to your collection? And I thought that you couldn't get any dumber people. What is this, a friendship charade?"

Mion bristled. "Who the hell are you?"

The stranger smirked. "The name's Seto Kaiba. Of course, you new dweebs wouldn't know that." He turned on his heel and left.

"Rich brat…" Jounouchi was muttering.

Continuing the discussion as if nothing ever happened, Yugi brought up an issue which had him wondering since the teacher had mentioned the town of Himawizawa.

"You know, your town is featured on heaps of mystery websites, and apparently there were a series of strange murders. Do you know what happened?"

Mion glanced at Rena, and after a long pause, Rena began the story.

_Whew! One more chapter done! Believe me, it wasn't the easiest thing to write, and I've had my computer crashing twice, once losing its entire data. Damn cheap products…_

_Well, if you're wondering who Bernkastel is, she is definitely NOT an OC. She's a mysterious entity, who's closely related to Rika's alter ego, and is said to have been born of Rika's traumatising memories when she was killed. Yes, so she's the real reason why the world kept on repeating… and repeating…_

_So Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni was simply a chess game between Bernkastel and Lambdadelta, her rival. Lambdadelta created Miyo Takano in her form, so like Bern and Rika, they look very similar._

_And she has appeared once in the anime, in the form of a grown Rika, after the credits of Higurashi Kai._

_Thanks to my… rather few… reviewers. Every review makes my day! Except flames…_

__

_And just because I'm writing a Higurashi and Yugioh crossover doesn't mean you can't write one too!_

Damn... my story's way TOO fast paced.


	4. Clearing the mist

**

* * *

**

When Two Meet

_Disclaimer and warning: Yugioh and Higurashi do not belong to me. Hanyuu would be nice… _

_Oh, and spoilers for Higurashi Rei and Umineko._

Chapter 4: Clearing the mist

Of course, Rena's story was shorter than Rika's, since she could not possibly have remembered any past worlds. She finally ended with Hanyuu going strange, and telling her newfound friends that she had no idea what was going on behind the _stranger_ events. She could not provide any explanation for how Takano had not managed to shoot Hanyuu, or how she had missed at such a short distance. But she did tell them of the Hinamizawa disease, and Rika's strange behaviour.

'_If I didn't know better_,' Yugi mused, '_then I'd think that Rika had a yami of her own._' He didn't know how close he was…

At that point, Mion cut in. "You haven't even told them about the club or punishment games."

"Punishment games?" Both Yugi and Ryou stiffened.

"Yep, we used to have a sort of club, where we would play all kinds of games. The loser would have to play a punishment game."

"Such as?" Ryou was still rather nervous.

"Oh, just cross-dressing or stuff like that… those were good times. Speaking of cross-dressing, Ryou, you would seriously look cute in an Angel mort uniform. If I ever beat you in a game, I'll make sure to make you wear that."

Ryou flushed crimson. "What do you mean by a uniform?"

Mion held up a picture of Shion and the other Angel mort waitresses. "It's this."

Ryou's face turned from crimson to a deathly white that even eclipsed his normal pallor. "Uh… I-I'd p-prefer not t-to..." he stuttered.

Jounouchi and Honda were both ogling the waitresses in the picture. "Wow, they're hot!"

"That's my twin sister Shion. We look very similar. In fact, most people can't tell when we swap around. The only difference between us is our voices."

The two boys started drooling. Yugi, Anzu and Ryou simply rolled their eyes. But they were distracted by-

"CUUTE! Ryou in an Angel mort uniform would be so kawaii! I wanna take him home!!!"

"RENA! How many times have I told you not to take people home! Inanimate objects are bad enough!"

* * *

While Frederica paused for breath, Bakura took the chance to ask a question.

"So wouldn't it just be your problem? I mean, we were never your pieces. How the _bloody_ hell did we get mixed up in all this crap?"

Frederica arched an eyebrow, eerily resembling Yami. "Patience, Tomb Robber."

"JUST. DAMNED. TELL. ME."

"Well, if I must cut a long story short, Shadi came to me and offered me his help."

"Shadi is a witch?!" Yami exclaimed.

"Now _that_ is a long story, and I will not go into it."

"But Shadi-"

"- Does not know! He and the witch Shadi are two very different people. Often, when a person has a witch counterpart, they don't ever find out! It was only because you are my pieces that I became visible and am helping you at all."

Bakura frowned, his eyebrows drawn together in either thought or irritation.

"So, what is your link with Rika anyway?"

Frederica thought over that carefully. Through the thousand years she had lived, she had often considered that problem, but never arrived at a definite conclusion.

"Whoever I am, I am not Rika. For one thing, I don't mind inflicting pain on those who will not learn until it's drilled into their heads. Rika is simply my pawn, albeit a favourite one who didn't bore me."

"We still haven't finished with Frederica's story yet." cut in Yami.

"Well, Shadi lent me his pieces- that is, you and your allies. They were in the form of Duel Monster cards, so each person represents one, or a set of cards."

Yami and Bakura glanced at each other. Evidently, they both hadn't forgotten the RPG they had played …

"And as I told you, your souls are sealed inside the cards. And as for that mysterious witch… That person seemed to use as many mind-manipulating cards as humanly possible."

"What's so mysterious about that witch? Ra, a fool with half an eye would be able to see he was Yami Marik. C'mon, mind control, purple cloak, complete psycho… how could anyone ever think he was anybody else?" Bakura snapped.

"This is simply a game of Duel Monsters… but with your lives at stake. The information I have offered you is unimportant, but perhaps, it may teach you to seek help from outside sources. This shall be the first and last time you meet me… Farewell…"

A flash of blue light, and Rika was lying on the ground, in the same position she had been in a few minutes ago. Yami and Bakura would never know if they had simply been dreaming, but as they helped her up, and described the previous bewildering events, a dark chuckle sounded.

It seemed that someone had been watching all along.

As abruptly as it had sounded, the laugh terminated, and two words were heard.

"Game Start."

* * *

_Who are your allies?  
What is a friend?  
Who is your enemy?_

Danger lurks behind impenetrable light.  
A story which has ended begins again.  
Even the ruling passions cannot forswear innocence.  
But true darkness can…

_Darkness shall create, and darkness shall destroy.  
Destroy all you hold dear.  
But only darkness can save you…  
Light will only blind your eyes…_

_A new game begins, and I shall play the cards…_

_*giggle**giggle*…_

_~Frederica Bernkastel~_

* * *

After they had torn Rena away from Ryou (the latter being much ruffled from his exertions at trying to escape), Yugi finally proposed a trip to the park. Unfortunately for him, he didn't know about the chaos and panic that would ensue.

After all, they hadn't been planning to introduce the Yamis in the first place…

"Kyuu! The park is so pretty! I want to take it home with meee!" Rena stretched her arms out, as if to engulf the entire park (and preferably wrap it in some colourful wrapping paper and take it home).

Ryou smiled.

"It's a shame you can't, Ryuuguu-san."

"Ah, just call me Rena, Bakura-kun! We don't need honorifics, do we?"

"Rena, then. And you can call me Ryou."

Mion stretched her arms out. She seemed quite at ease, even though she had never been in such a big city before. To her, Domino had only been one of these scary things you saw on the television, but now she was actually there, it wasn't really _that_ impressive. She mused over her new friends. Yugi, that short little tri-haired coloured boy, seemed nice and polite enough and Ryou was cute, but a little bland. It looked like she could resign herself to an ordinary existence after all.

What a joke.

Yugi suddenly froze as his link detected Yami only a little distance away. This spelt trouble, as he was sure the Tomb Robber was with him, and judging by their normal behaviour, they were probably duelling right now. He had no intention to let his new friends discover the yamis, as this could only spell trouble.

Ryou was also going though a series of similar revelations. No one, if he could help it, would discover his… rather violent yami. Quickly, he tapped into their link, and gave Bakura a mental shove. In his panic, he forgot how grumpy the Tomb Robber was liable to get.

'_What?!_' came the annoyed reply.

'_You aren't fighting with Yami, are you?!_'

'_No._'

'_Then_ _**what**__ are you doing? We're only a short distance away, with two new students who know nothing about us! How are we going to explain this?!_'

'_Ryou, stop annoying me. Just leave it to us to pretend to be you two, if you are really such a fool that you cannot keep them here._'

'_I can't!_'

'_Just go run off in the opposite direction, pretending you've left something behind, you imbecilic mortal._'

Ryou didn't like this suggestion at all, but had no choice.

"Ah, Rena, Mion-san! I've just left something behind!"

Mion grinned.

"If that's the case, you don't need to be worried about us! Just leave us here to wander around, we'll be fine!"

Ryou cursed inwardly. Was fate turning against him or something? He had to fake a cheerful laugh, and for once, felt sympathy for Bakura when the Tomb Robber had been forced to act all cheerful – when in actual fact, he wanted to murder the people in front of him.

"Ahaha… c'mon Yugi, we'll have to go back."

Yugi sent him a puzzled expression, mixed with a hint of panic. "Y-yes, Ryou? I… I can stay with them if you like…" He then broke off, seeing Ryou's murderous/alarmed expression.

'_Yami! What does this mean?!'_

'_Aibou, just hurry and leave! We should be able to cover up for you!'_

* * *

_Once upon a kakera, I wanted to find a new name for myself. I was not fully Furude Rika, I knew too much. So I searched for a new name. _

_I found one of my father's wine bottles, which I drank from incessantly. The name upon them was interesting enough. B-E-R-N-K-A-S-T-E-L. But that seemed incomplete. So I decided._

_I am Furude Rika. Furuderika. Frederica. Frederica Bernkastel. Some call me a witch. I am Frederica Bernkastel, the witch of miracles, travelling through the sea of kakera._

_But I thought I had separated myself from this 'witch' when I reached my happy world. Does her… my rebirth mean the start of disaster?_

"Furude! Idiotic non-mortal! Save me the trouble of slicing your ears off if you won't listen, fool!" Bakura looked extremely annoyed, the reason being that he again would have to imitate that spineless hikari of his. It was annoying enough that Yami had to also be the not-so-fortunate witness of his dilemma.

Yami's slightly softer tones cut through what might have been a barrage of insults from Bakura. "Rika, it seems that your friends are heading this way. That's probably not good, but then again, you'd know what happens after this, right?"

Rika shook her head slightly. "The scenario can change. There are different 'chapters' as Frederica puts it, and each chapter has a possible solution."

"So… you don't know what might happen?"

A wry laugh. "Oh, but I _do_. Chances are, we'll all be dead by the end of June. Of course, I'm looking at it as positively as I can."

Hanyuu suddenly materialised next to Rika, with a good deal of apologetic 'Hauu auu-ing'. "Sorry, Rika, but I was-"

"Looking for clues, I know." Rika gestured towards Yami and Bakura with a simple "These two are Yami and Bakura, but you should already know each other."

"Hauu auu…! Mion-san and Rena-san are heading this way!" Rika only replied to this with a sage nod of her head.

Sure enough, Rena's voice could be heard as she fawned over 'how cute' the park was. Bakura attempted a Ryou-ish expression and Yami attempted to widen his eyes to look a bit more like Yugi.

It didn't work.

"Ehh… Yugi, Ryou… RIKA? What are you guys doing here? Oy, and how on earth did you guys get introduced?" Mion sailed right in to the vicinity, fortunately not seeing the slight change in her friends' appearance.

"Ehh…Ahh… We just ran into this little girl, and… oh… is _this_ Rika?" Bakura replied with Ryou's awkward 'head-rubbing' gesture. Mion seemed to fall for it, and called out as Rena ran to catch up with her.

"Mii. Who are these two?" Rika also did a good job at disguising the fact that they had met quite a while ago.

Yami smiled slightly. "My name is Yugi Mutou, and this is Ryou Bakura, my… _friend_."

* * *

_End of this chapter!_

_Okay, I really don't have a reasonable excuse for not updating this story in a long time… except that school is extremely busy ;^;… At least it's longer than the other chapters…_

_If you want, comment and yell at me to write faster, and I probably will. _


	5. Happy Playing!

**When Two Meet**

_Disclaimer and warning: Yugioh, Higurashi and Umineko do not belong to me. Spoilers for Higurashi Rei and Umineko._

Chapter 5: Happy Playing!

"Gahh!" Yugi was panting as Ryou dragged him back to school. "Oy, Ryou-kun, please let go of me now!" But Ryou strolled on determinedly. "Ryou, where on earth are we going?"

There was a steely gleam in Ryou's eyes as he answered. "Bakura filled me in on some of the details about these two. Something tells me that they should be related to us."

"Then _where_ are we going?"

"Ishizu's place. Haven't you noticed I've been following the Millennium Ring's pointers??" Having been dragged several streets down Yugi evidently hadn't seen Ryou take out the Ring, but still, he mused, Ryou might have been overreacting a little.

"Here we are." Ryou stopped at a comfortable-looking brick house, which seemed to have escaped the city norm of high-rise skyscrapers. Obviously, due to Ishizu's affluent earnings from the museum, she and her family could afford to live a peaceful, country life.

The door opened, and out stepped Malik. They hadn't seen each other in a while, but Malik still hadn't changed at all. He _did_ look funny in normal jeans and a t-shirt, however.

"Hey Yugi, hey Ryou, the Millennium Rod sensed you two, so I thought I'd come say hello. But I bet you came to see my big sis?"

Yugi smiled and bowed politely, but Ryou's expression remained unchanged.

"Ehh, Ryou… What's with the long face?"

"Where's Ishizu?"

"Inside. Geez, Ryou, I never thought you'd be so _cold_ to an old friend like me. Are you beginning to reject me? Please don't say that you don't like me anymooree!"

Ishizu gracefully descended from the steps, a direct contrast to her brother's rough and easygoing nature. Even in her casual attire, she resembled the Egyptian priestess of the days of yore. Elegantly, she held her hand out to Yugi, and curtseyed. With a bemused expression, Yugi shook it.

"Pharaoh's light. Was there something in particular you two wanted to ask me?"

"Well… uh…"

"Yes." Ryou butted into Yugi's hesitant silence. "We were suspicious of the new students at our school, and Bakura has just confirmed them. He didn't have time to fill us in, but it seems that fate has decided to kill us all by the end of June."

Ishizu blinked, then smiled. "There is no such thing as fate or destiny." She replied gently. "I thought that Seto Kaiba had already proven that to us. Destiny can be changed." But her eyes narrowed a little. "However, I myself have been having visions of the same sort."

* * *

_Meta-World_

"Che. Bernkastel, you have decided to play your cards early." Marik leered at the emotionless witch in front of him. He had long since removed his cloak, Bernkastel having impassively revealed his true identity. Frederica made no attempt to reply to that statement, choosing rather to focus on the Duel Monster cards in front of her.

"Well, I hope you enjoy seeing your friends die. I've chosen some quite gruesome punishment games for them, and as for you…"

"Whoever said I did not enjoy watching them die? It is a cure for the only poison which can kill a witch; boredom. After a long time of watching gruesome slaughter, I've happened to develop a quite sadistic delight in watching my pieces suffer. That Mion is such a useless piece, much like the Kuriboh in my deck. But if I use her well, in conjunction with my other pieces, I can open a path to victory. However, that doesn't mean that I am very heavily affected when she dies. Nothing matters unless I win."

"Cold, aren't you, Witch of Miracles? So heavily practical, with no belief in 'The heart of the cards' that the Pharaoh was always ranting about? You don't care about the wellbeing of your pieces?"

"They are my pieces, and they have not let me become bored yet. So I will keep them. When I am tired of playing with them, I will gladly hand them to you. But while I am not bored, I will toy with them until they break, revive them again, and break them again. Such is the happy curse of my kind… I have no objections to killing them a million times over, like I would squash a mere ant, for I am the cruellest witch of them all."

Marik only made a deranged smile in response to that statement. Nobody would ever know if Frederica Bernkastel was putting on an emotionless farce or not, but nothing mattered, unless one of the duo won.

* * *

Rena's eyes narrowed in confusion. Was it just her or did Yugi and Ryou seem a bit… strange? She couldn't place exactly what was wrong with them, but they were certainly _different_. Yugi seemed to have a slightly more confident air, and Ryou had a dark, brooding aura. Perhaps they had a fight and Yugi won? But she couldn't picture the innocent Yugi and Ryou fighting…

"Hey guys, how did you get here so quickly? Last time I checked, you went back to get your stuff at school." Mion inquired curiously.

It was Yami's turn to fake an innocent laugh. "Well, Ryou realised that he actually had left it at home, so we turned back and took a shortcut here."

"Hauu! The sunset is so beautifully cuuttee! I want to take it home!" Rena stopped focusing on Yugi and Ryou's strangeness and decided to fawn over the sunset instead. And it _was_ pretty, a peachy gold interlaced with baby blue clouds, slowly fading to violet over the horizon.

"Ahh, a pretty end to a pretty day. Nipah~"

"Hauu auu… I wonder how many more pretty days we'll see, Rika?" Hanyuu voiced that question, noticed only by Rika, Yami and Bakura.

"Well, we must be going home now, Rena, Rika. It's been nice meeting you two." The latter statement was addressed to Yugi and Ryou by Mion. "And I was thinking of remaking the club I had mentioned to you guys earlier."

"Mii… I loved playing games in that club. Especially card games." Rika added, mainly for the benefit of Yami and Bakura, who were looking a little lost.

"O-oh. Card games? That'd be a good idea!" Yami's enthusiasm wasn't entirely feigned. Bakura, however, looked a little darker.

'_Yay. Another chance for the idiotic Pharaoh to show off his awesome duelling skills. I __**can't**__ wait._' He thought, sarcasm practically dripping from his mental tone.

* * *

Back at the Kame Game shop, the hikaris and yamis finally reunited. It had been a surprisingly eventful day, and the yamis spent the time informing their lights of the darker side of the Watanagashi, as well as what they had discussed with Rika. As they talked about Rika's past, Ryou covered his mouth with his hands in shocked sympathy.

"Oh, the _poor girl_!" He could understand what Rika had been through, but merely to a certain extent. He himself had only been through a dead mother and abusive yami, yet he had felt so low about it. But how did it feel to watch your friends dying over and over again, sometimes by their own hands? And Rika was an orphan, with only Hanyuu to go to for guidance. How did it feel to know that you were alone in the world, with only one person to comfort and understand you? It had been like that to him once, but Rika had to go through this endless torture.

He looked outside, eyes saddening. The dark, velvet night had not nearly engulfed all of Domino, and a few shards of the beautiful sunset remained, lightly dancing under a rapidly dimming sky. Why was there such suffering?

_This is a world which shouldn't exist, a kakera created merely to alleviate boredom._

Whose words were they?

* * *

As Ryou and Bakura were about to leave, Yami grabbed at the back of Bakura's shirt. Annoyed, the tomb robber spun around.

"What is it, Yami?" Yami's eyes remained impassive, though there was a dangerous glint in them.

"Simply because we have agreed to work together doesn't mean that anything changes between us. We are still enemies. Understand, tomb robber?"

"Whatever. I don't care." Bakura swept away into the dark night, leaving a glowering hikari behind. Ryou shook his head. His yami had been getting so… grumpy lately. Why?

"Mii~ Today was the first day at this school for me! Thank you for picking me up!" Rika cocked her head to the side and smiled disarmingly at Mion.

"Ah, don't worry about it. I guess that we'll be starting the game club again, now that we have some new and willing people! Hehehe… and the big city offers some very _new_ punishment games!" Mion grinned slightly.

"Ah… I think that you might get arrested for indecent exposure for some of these things. Nipah~"

Mion only grinned wider and chuckled.

"No problem. Yugi and Ryou're waiting at the park, 'cause there're some cool card tables set up. But all anyone seems to play is Duel Monsters. Wonder why."

"Are you playing Duel Monsters?"

"Dunno." Mion shrugged. "They say that in Rome, do as the Romans do, but I'd just rather have fun. Played Duel Monsters a little myself a while ago, but in ol' Hinamizawa we don't really hold a respect for new-fangled technology or games, do we? And Duel Monsters seems such a boring game. Looks as if there's no point to it but having the most powerful cards. And there's been strange rumours goin' around lately."

"Mii? Strange rumours? Like a curse?"

Mion shrugged again. "Hm, heaps of people talk about how sometimes they've seen a game shrouded by black mist or something, and after it's over, some people've been found unconscious, while others had no memory of what happened during the duels."

"Whaa… sounds creepy. Like as if you were playing a game, and you suddenly heard some 'Pssht pssht' noises behind you and then the air went dark. Mii… very scary."

"Che. More like their hologram-thingy malfunctioned and caused little electric shocks. But these modern people don't have enough sense to know what's best for them, do they?"

* * *

Ryou sighed while waiting. Mion had talked to them about this new club she was thinking of starting, where they'd play games and do other ridiculous things. To most people, it would be a fun thing, but to Ryou, it sounded positively dangerous. He was too polite to refuse Mion's offer of joining their club, but still…

He glanced down at the Millennium Ring on his chest, lying there like an innocent necklace, only looking a little more ominous. Bakura had been well behaved recently, what was there to worry about? It wasn't as if he'd ever snap and run around rabid killing everybody… right? After all, Rika hadn't said anything about who had performed the murders. According to her, she never was allowed to find out. That was the rule of this 'game'. Bakura wouldn't… right?

But in that case, who had?

'_Dolt of a hikari. Are you moping again?_' Bakura's mental voice, through their mind link, sounded annoyed.

'_I can't help being worried…_"

'_Well, I feel no desire to run around like a madman with a knife. That'd be Marik, him and his infernal purple cloak._'

'_But, Bakura… how on earth can you be so calm? We've practically received our death warrant!_'

'_Keh. If 'death warrant' means that idiotic Pharaoh can die too, it's a pretty fair deal._'

'_KURA!!!_'

* * *

_Finished this chapter (though it's a little short…). I now need ideas for what games the newfound club can play… please review and tell me!_


End file.
